The next morning, waking up was miserable. Four hours of sleep is not enough. We made the trek out to Wawel Castle (vavel castle, if youre wondering how to pronounce it). Wawel was gorgeous on the outside, sort of lame on the inside. The cathedral was beautiful and Eric and I pretended to be british tour guides, making up our own explanations for the tapestries and artwork which I think was more fun than an actual tour guide. While we were waiting for the other half of our group to return, I managed to accidentally make our professors 4 year old son cry. Apparently if you tell a four year old "no you can't just take that out of my hand" they cry. A lot. So then I felt like a douche bag. And he apologized to me in English and his mom in Romanian. Yaniv is pretty adorable. We made up, so its okay. We hugged it out.
It was hot as hell at the castle which explains the four-year-old's temper tantrum. So naturally we went for some hot chocolate. Now let me tell you something. We are doing it wrong. In Krakow, they literally melt down chocolate - hence the name "liquid chocolate". It was amazing. Might have been the cause of my cavities. But thats another story. In our post-chocolate stupor, we went into the caves below the castle. Slowly following our elderly statistics professor down a wet spiral staircase was really entertaining. He is a very silly old man. Every time we would go around a full turn, we kept thinking we had reached the bottom. We hadn't. It was deceptively deep. The myth is that there was a dragon living in the caves beneath the castle which protected the castle back in the day. Now it sort of looks like where the bat cave should be built. Today, there is a large iron works dragon statue that actually breathes fire. Its pretty cool looking. Outside the cave there was a polish renaissance festival. Needless to say, I got very excited and wanted to stay and play. But there was a boat to catch. We took a really nice boat ride up and down the river that runs through Krakow. Lunch was on our professors and I did some work on some really delicious mushroom risotto. After shopping, some ice cream and thinking that Caroline got taken, I took a much needed awkward nap with my dirty feet hanging off the bed. We finally woke up, rallyed the troops and had some pierogis for dinner. But not after taking some pictures with Caroline and her "ski" sign. While we were in Krakow, Caroline printed off a sign that said "ski" and she would put it up with signs that said Krakow on them. Krakowski. Its her last name. Adorbs. The bars were sub par and way too American. Although we did try this really tasty drink that was vodka and apple juice. It was AWESOME. But the night was lame, and we were all so tired so we decided to call it a night and limp home.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Krakow and Mr. Gluck.
Ee sorry this is so late. Life has been insane.
So I left you off at a depressing point, after Auschwitz. The night improve significantly afterwards. Caroline, Eric and I struck out in an attempt to find the Jewish festival going on that night. It would turn out that the festival was more of a serious of events going on throughout the city for two weeks. But we didn't know this as we adventured through the streets, very confused as to why there was nothing going on. Using my Jew-senses, we of course managed to stumble upon the JCC, Jewish Community Center for you gentiles out there. Naturally, the head of the JCC invited us in for pickles, salada and kosher wine. This is where we met Yakov Gluck. Yakov is the man. But we'll get to that later. We left the JCC in an attempt to locate Eric's russian TA in the midst of a hoppin hipster bar in the middle of Kazimierz, the Jewish district in Krakow. This bar was sick. The beer was delicious, and the only lighting upstairs was candles. The walls were covered with black and white prints. It showed up Kafe Keuroac. In the basement, there was a Jewish DJ with stars of david illuminated on the walls. It was pretty freaking sweet. We finally left this bar in search of an underground gay bar, we never found the bar. I did however, get teased mercilessly by a couple of 16 year old Polish girls because I couldn't pronounce my words properly. Jerks. We ended up at a very strange bar with weird manacles on the walls. We ordered something, and the waitress came back with 6 blue shot glasses. We tried to share our drinks with the head of the JCC who happened to be there. He ignored us, which was naturally hurt my feelings. After wandering around lost for a little while, we ran into Yakov again. Only this time, he wasn't alone. We accompanied him and several Ukrainian girls to their friend's underground bar. If you've ever wondered what a party with 7 people in a bar would be like - its freaking awesome because you can dance like a total fool and play whatever music you like, and the bartender gives you free drinks because oh wait, he owns the place. We may or may not have danced on the bar. But the night didn't end here. We needed to go to Zinger. Zinger is a bar that is open until the last person leaves. Apparently, you go to Zinger for your last drink around 4 am. But before we went to Zinger, Yakov needed us to go back to the weird manacles bar. This time, the head of the JCC talked to us and had a drink with us (all of which Yakov paid for). This was when we found out that Yakov is friends with Sublime, 311 and is an orthodox jew. He whipped out his tzitzis, the ropes that orthodox jews always wear, to prove it. He pretended they were nun-chucks. I almost fell of my barstool laughing. We finally left, only to be dragged into another bar with more drinks that still wasn't Zinger. Finally we made it, I double checked upon arrival. Zinger was hopping at 4 am, about the same time the sun starts to rise. We had our last drink at Zinger and Eric hailed us a cab. We bid Mr. Gluck a wonderful night and made a very giggly way home, past Wawel castle, which I thought had a dinosaur - Caroline broke my heart when she told me it was supposed to be a dragon.
So I left you off at a depressing point, after Auschwitz. The night improve significantly afterwards. Caroline, Eric and I struck out in an attempt to find the Jewish festival going on that night. It would turn out that the festival was more of a serious of events going on throughout the city for two weeks. But we didn't know this as we adventured through the streets, very confused as to why there was nothing going on. Using my Jew-senses, we of course managed to stumble upon the JCC, Jewish Community Center for you gentiles out there. Naturally, the head of the JCC invited us in for pickles, salada and kosher wine. This is where we met Yakov Gluck. Yakov is the man. But we'll get to that later. We left the JCC in an attempt to locate Eric's russian TA in the midst of a hoppin hipster bar in the middle of Kazimierz, the Jewish district in Krakow. This bar was sick. The beer was delicious, and the only lighting upstairs was candles. The walls were covered with black and white prints. It showed up Kafe Keuroac. In the basement, there was a Jewish DJ with stars of david illuminated on the walls. It was pretty freaking sweet. We finally left this bar in search of an underground gay bar, we never found the bar. I did however, get teased mercilessly by a couple of 16 year old Polish girls because I couldn't pronounce my words properly. Jerks. We ended up at a very strange bar with weird manacles on the walls. We ordered something, and the waitress came back with 6 blue shot glasses. We tried to share our drinks with the head of the JCC who happened to be there. He ignored us, which was naturally hurt my feelings. After wandering around lost for a little while, we ran into Yakov again. Only this time, he wasn't alone. We accompanied him and several Ukrainian girls to their friend's underground bar. If you've ever wondered what a party with 7 people in a bar would be like - its freaking awesome because you can dance like a total fool and play whatever music you like, and the bartender gives you free drinks because oh wait, he owns the place. We may or may not have danced on the bar. But the night didn't end here. We needed to go to Zinger. Zinger is a bar that is open until the last person leaves. Apparently, you go to Zinger for your last drink around 4 am. But before we went to Zinger, Yakov needed us to go back to the weird manacles bar. This time, the head of the JCC talked to us and had a drink with us (all of which Yakov paid for). This was when we found out that Yakov is friends with Sublime, 311 and is an orthodox jew. He whipped out his tzitzis, the ropes that orthodox jews always wear, to prove it. He pretended they were nun-chucks. I almost fell of my barstool laughing. We finally left, only to be dragged into another bar with more drinks that still wasn't Zinger. Finally we made it, I double checked upon arrival. Zinger was hopping at 4 am, about the same time the sun starts to rise. We had our last drink at Zinger and Eric hailed us a cab. We bid Mr. Gluck a wonderful night and made a very giggly way home, past Wawel castle, which I thought had a dinosaur - Caroline broke my heart when she told me it was supposed to be a dragon.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Stolat Momma!!
Happy birthday momma!! I'm sorry I haven't been blogging as often as you would like, but I wanted to wish you a big happy birthday from Warsaw!! I hope you had a great day, I know there's still more for you even though it's night time here. I'll give you a big birthday hug when I see you in a little over a week. I love you momma, I don't know what I would do without you. You absolutely are the best mom in the world. Hands down. Have an awesome day and celebrate accordingly :)
Sunday, July 1, 2012
We're going to Ooge!
Okay I'm sorry I haven't been blogging. When I have time to blog, sleep usually comes first and then Lisa forgets to blog.
Last weekend, we went to Lodz, or phonetically Woodge. We like to call it Ooge. Lodz started off pretty lame - when we got off of the train it looked like we were in Youngstown, OH. Almost immediately following the dreary landscape, we were forced to watch the worst movie ever made ever. Three hours. Black and White. About cotton factories. The polish either don't have a sense of humor, or they have a cruel sense of humor. We all went to bed that night thinking that the weekend was going to be miserable. We were pleasantly surprised to wake up the next morning to 75 degrees and sunshine. We then saw the beautiful side of Lodz, which really is quite lovely. That night, we got a taste for european techno and silly danced to our heart's content at a random bar we stumbled upon. We continued the fashion of getting home as the sun rises around 330. The next day we spent the day at Manufactora, an old factory complex turned into a baller shopping center. I finally got my Polska football jersey, super cheap because I can fit into small boys clothing. Thank you Annie for always telling me to check children's sections.
Week of classes, boring. I'm pretty certain nothing exciting happened. Except for delicious Indian food, shopping failures and a store named after Caroline with tons of random food in it. OHH. We went to a karaoke bar! How could I forget? We befriended a Ukrainian gentleman down the hall, Oleg, who came to a karaoke bar with us. Eric and I did a beautiful rendition of piano man together when we discovered that don't stop believing wasn't an option (tragedy). Benny and the Jetts also happened, along with Bye, Bye, Bye and American Pie. Six zloty beers and karaoke made for an excellent night, which ended with Caroline running into a bar because she heard Polka music. Turns out there are 24 hour food places in Warsaw and they sell awesome mushrooms and wear adorable hats.
Krakow. Is. Awesome. For everyone who has ever said that Poland is lame - I would like you to take your words and eat them now. Gorgeous city, absolutely gorgeous. The central square was just so pretty. It looked like something out of a movie. There were cafes everywhere, cobblestone streets, cathedrals, and an ice cream shop every 20 feet. Street performers, we saw the Krakowiak dancers and statues - one of which juggled for me and the other pretended to write me a novel. The ice cream here, in case you were wondering, is divine and they always have pistachio which rocks. Our first night, Eric, Caroline and myself sat at a cafe in the old square and sipped wine and just admired the scene. Friday morning, we went to Auschwitz. After one of our professors told us several off hand inappropriate jokes about Auschwitz. "Are we going to take a train there?" "Well the trains to Auschwitz haven't been running for a very long time." "Well no one ever complained about going to Auschwitz over the salt mines, in common era." Auschwitz was eerie and surreal. Thats the best way to describe it. After trying my hardest to say a few hebrew prayers Eric taught me, we left Auschwitz after promising our tour guide to pass on all that we had seen there. The bus ride back gave us some time to cheer up a little bit to rally the troops for the night.
I have a tooth ache from hell right now- tomorrow I find out how good Polish dentists are, and the codine the pharmacist gave me is kicking in so i'm going to stop my saga here for tonight, tomorrow i'll write about the JCC, Zinger's, Schindler's Factory and some fantastic free cake. Oh and of course how my trip to the dentist goes. Wish me luck!
Last weekend, we went to Lodz, or phonetically Woodge. We like to call it Ooge. Lodz started off pretty lame - when we got off of the train it looked like we were in Youngstown, OH. Almost immediately following the dreary landscape, we were forced to watch the worst movie ever made ever. Three hours. Black and White. About cotton factories. The polish either don't have a sense of humor, or they have a cruel sense of humor. We all went to bed that night thinking that the weekend was going to be miserable. We were pleasantly surprised to wake up the next morning to 75 degrees and sunshine. We then saw the beautiful side of Lodz, which really is quite lovely. That night, we got a taste for european techno and silly danced to our heart's content at a random bar we stumbled upon. We continued the fashion of getting home as the sun rises around 330. The next day we spent the day at Manufactora, an old factory complex turned into a baller shopping center. I finally got my Polska football jersey, super cheap because I can fit into small boys clothing. Thank you Annie for always telling me to check children's sections.
Week of classes, boring. I'm pretty certain nothing exciting happened. Except for delicious Indian food, shopping failures and a store named after Caroline with tons of random food in it. OHH. We went to a karaoke bar! How could I forget? We befriended a Ukrainian gentleman down the hall, Oleg, who came to a karaoke bar with us. Eric and I did a beautiful rendition of piano man together when we discovered that don't stop believing wasn't an option (tragedy). Benny and the Jetts also happened, along with Bye, Bye, Bye and American Pie. Six zloty beers and karaoke made for an excellent night, which ended with Caroline running into a bar because she heard Polka music. Turns out there are 24 hour food places in Warsaw and they sell awesome mushrooms and wear adorable hats.
Krakow. Is. Awesome. For everyone who has ever said that Poland is lame - I would like you to take your words and eat them now. Gorgeous city, absolutely gorgeous. The central square was just so pretty. It looked like something out of a movie. There were cafes everywhere, cobblestone streets, cathedrals, and an ice cream shop every 20 feet. Street performers, we saw the Krakowiak dancers and statues - one of which juggled for me and the other pretended to write me a novel. The ice cream here, in case you were wondering, is divine and they always have pistachio which rocks. Our first night, Eric, Caroline and myself sat at a cafe in the old square and sipped wine and just admired the scene. Friday morning, we went to Auschwitz. After one of our professors told us several off hand inappropriate jokes about Auschwitz. "Are we going to take a train there?" "Well the trains to Auschwitz haven't been running for a very long time." "Well no one ever complained about going to Auschwitz over the salt mines, in common era." Auschwitz was eerie and surreal. Thats the best way to describe it. After trying my hardest to say a few hebrew prayers Eric taught me, we left Auschwitz after promising our tour guide to pass on all that we had seen there. The bus ride back gave us some time to cheer up a little bit to rally the troops for the night.
I have a tooth ache from hell right now- tomorrow I find out how good Polish dentists are, and the codine the pharmacist gave me is kicking in so i'm going to stop my saga here for tonight, tomorrow i'll write about the JCC, Zinger's, Schindler's Factory and some fantastic free cake. Oh and of course how my trip to the dentist goes. Wish me luck!
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Pierogis!!
The last thing I want to do is blog right now, but I know I'm going to forget everything if I don't!
After walking for a million miles to get back to Hera, we relaxed and tried to go to a cafe in the park which turned out to be a bar. So we just turned around and ate at the restaurant under the hostel. I ordered all in Polish and was very proud of myself. It was a pretty chill night and after doing homework we went to bed really early: 2 am.
Yesterday, the jetlag really hit everyone. Our professor asked me if I was tired because I kept zoning out. Oops. Then computer lab was borderline impossible. We were yelling at each other trying to figure out how on earth we were supposed to code certain things. We finally figured it out (thank god), and then got to go on a two hour walk to go pick up our professors son from preschool and meet our other professors wife. Along the way, I sat on an ant hill and saw an elderly man in a speedo tanning. It was a strange afternoon. Caroline and I were so tired after the day, so we took a "half an hour" power nap, which quickly turned into an hour and a half. Earlier we had bought pierogis, so we fried them up for dinner in my tiny camping frying pan (thank you parents for making me bring that). They were delicious, BTW. We had used part of a bottle of wine to cook our onions in, so naturally we needed to finish it. The other girls decided to go out to bar, while we stayed in and taught our Polish friend how to play kings, ride the bus and tourettes. All in all it was a really fun night, even though France lost to Sweden :(.
Today, our alarm didn't go off. Again. Somehow we managed to get down for breakfast in time and were only 5 minutes late for classes, which wasn't even our fault. Classes weren't too hard today, and we didn't have our second lecture because of individual consultations about our research paper. Mine was early so I got to come home and shower and do dishes, woooooo. My research proposal -because I know you're all dying to know what I'm writing about- is going to focus on the relationship between religiosity and friendship networks and the effects on overall health.
Well I'm going to work on my assignment that's due on Thursday and maybe upload some more pictures to facebook. TTFN.
After walking for a million miles to get back to Hera, we relaxed and tried to go to a cafe in the park which turned out to be a bar. So we just turned around and ate at the restaurant under the hostel. I ordered all in Polish and was very proud of myself. It was a pretty chill night and after doing homework we went to bed really early: 2 am.
Yesterday, the jetlag really hit everyone. Our professor asked me if I was tired because I kept zoning out. Oops. Then computer lab was borderline impossible. We were yelling at each other trying to figure out how on earth we were supposed to code certain things. We finally figured it out (thank god), and then got to go on a two hour walk to go pick up our professors son from preschool and meet our other professors wife. Along the way, I sat on an ant hill and saw an elderly man in a speedo tanning. It was a strange afternoon. Caroline and I were so tired after the day, so we took a "half an hour" power nap, which quickly turned into an hour and a half. Earlier we had bought pierogis, so we fried them up for dinner in my tiny camping frying pan (thank you parents for making me bring that). They were delicious, BTW. We had used part of a bottle of wine to cook our onions in, so naturally we needed to finish it. The other girls decided to go out to bar, while we stayed in and taught our Polish friend how to play kings, ride the bus and tourettes. All in all it was a really fun night, even though France lost to Sweden :(.
Today, our alarm didn't go off. Again. Somehow we managed to get down for breakfast in time and were only 5 minutes late for classes, which wasn't even our fault. Classes weren't too hard today, and we didn't have our second lecture because of individual consultations about our research paper. Mine was early so I got to come home and shower and do dishes, woooooo. My research proposal -because I know you're all dying to know what I'm writing about- is going to focus on the relationship between religiosity and friendship networks and the effects on overall health.
Well I'm going to work on my assignment that's due on Thursday and maybe upload some more pictures to facebook. TTFN.
Monday, June 18, 2012
Serbian Food and Lots of Walking
After recovering from Saturday night and riding around all day on a bus, we had a dinner through the university. If you've never eaten or had the opportunity to try Serbian cuisine, go find it now. I don't care how or what you have to do but go. It was phenomenal. Being a vegetarian in Warsaw is incredibly difficult, so I've been nibbling here and there (annie please don't kill me!). Chicken liver kabobs wrapped in bacon. I'm going to let that sink in. They also kept refilling and refilling and refilling our glasses of wine. Stuffed with food and full of wine we slowly made it back to Hera for a relatively early bedtime.
Today we had statistics and computer lab like normal (pretty boring but I actually understood the math which is very exciting). After Alex, who is from Belarus, showed us where the less expensive restaurants were. We tried a "mexican" one. It could hardly be considered mexican, but was pretty cheap and the bathroom was gorgeous. After lunch, we went on another "walk and talk". Our lecturer likes to walk around the city and then lecture us about communist history. Today we went to the university library which is part botanical garden. The roof top garden was gorgeous. Terrifying, but gorgeous. We learned all about the characteristics of communism, 300 feet above the ground on a rickety metal walkway. I have no idea what Josh, our professor, told us- I was praying that we weren't going to die the entire time we stood there. We finally returned to solid ground and class was pretty much over.
We decided it would be a really great idea to walk home instead of taking the bus. Two hours later we made it back to the hostel. On the way, we bought ice cream, found a restaurant that has a trampoline, looked at children's books, sort of broke into a church? and got really sweaty. It was interesting but needless to say we won't be doing that again. Our shopping expedition was sort of a fail but it was a very beautiful walk. And now I am probably going going to lay on the floor because its colder there and it is hot here!
Today we had statistics and computer lab like normal (pretty boring but I actually understood the math which is very exciting). After Alex, who is from Belarus, showed us where the less expensive restaurants were. We tried a "mexican" one. It could hardly be considered mexican, but was pretty cheap and the bathroom was gorgeous. After lunch, we went on another "walk and talk". Our lecturer likes to walk around the city and then lecture us about communist history. Today we went to the university library which is part botanical garden. The roof top garden was gorgeous. Terrifying, but gorgeous. We learned all about the characteristics of communism, 300 feet above the ground on a rickety metal walkway. I have no idea what Josh, our professor, told us- I was praying that we weren't going to die the entire time we stood there. We finally returned to solid ground and class was pretty much over.
We decided it would be a really great idea to walk home instead of taking the bus. Two hours later we made it back to the hostel. On the way, we bought ice cream, found a restaurant that has a trampoline, looked at children's books, sort of broke into a church? and got really sweaty. It was interesting but needless to say we won't be doing that again. Our shopping expedition was sort of a fail but it was a very beautiful walk. And now I am probably going going to lay on the floor because its colder there and it is hot here!
Sunday, June 17, 2012
The Mundane
This is for you, dad :)
There are 7 american students on the trip and 4? polish, I'm still a little hazy about the number of people. Tom is the only Polish student who has been hanging out with us. We get breakfast in the hotel every morning (woo free food) and the kawa is amazing, don't worry mom, I'm cutting back on my caffeine while I'm here. There are two guys and six girls. Two professors, one is Polish and the other Romanian. Maciek (i think thats how you spell his name) is teaching us statistics and Polish history. Irina is teaching us the practical data analysis part of the course. The food has been amazing, I did try some sausage, which was actually really delicious. Caroline is my roommate, our room is pretty nice actually and we've been splitting food in our mini fridge to pack lunches. The internet connection at the hostel, Hera, blows. The classes are interesting, but I have a feeling they're going to get pretty hard. Pierogis are the BOMB.COM. I'm trying to restrain myself so I don't get fat on this trip but good god they're delicious. Polish beer is really tasty too. One of my shoes broke, so I'm going to do a little shopping this week. The area by the hostel is super lame, but Midtown, where the school is is gorgeous. Old town is my favorite place so far. The stadium looks like the one from the quidditch world cup. It lights up on the sides and is insanely cool. Basically Poland is awesome. I'm not really sure why so many people make fun of it.
There are 7 american students on the trip and 4? polish, I'm still a little hazy about the number of people. Tom is the only Polish student who has been hanging out with us. We get breakfast in the hotel every morning (woo free food) and the kawa is amazing, don't worry mom, I'm cutting back on my caffeine while I'm here. There are two guys and six girls. Two professors, one is Polish and the other Romanian. Maciek (i think thats how you spell his name) is teaching us statistics and Polish history. Irina is teaching us the practical data analysis part of the course. The food has been amazing, I did try some sausage, which was actually really delicious. Caroline is my roommate, our room is pretty nice actually and we've been splitting food in our mini fridge to pack lunches. The internet connection at the hostel, Hera, blows. The classes are interesting, but I have a feeling they're going to get pretty hard. Pierogis are the BOMB.COM. I'm trying to restrain myself so I don't get fat on this trip but good god they're delicious. Polish beer is really tasty too. One of my shoes broke, so I'm going to do a little shopping this week. The area by the hostel is super lame, but Midtown, where the school is is gorgeous. Old town is my favorite place so far. The stadium looks like the one from the quidditch world cup. It lights up on the sides and is insanely cool. Basically Poland is awesome. I'm not really sure why so many people make fun of it.
Wilanów Castle = fail
We made a valiant attempt to make it to Wilanów Castle today. We really did. After finally settling on a restaurant, which turned out to be the pub from last night, we hopped on a bus to try to get to the castle. We ended up going the wrong way and not understanding the bus at all. The castle closes at 16:00 and it was 15:00, so we didn't really have a choice at this point. One of our stops let us see a really beautiful view of the city however. And once we got back from our "bus tour", the Polish football team (who happens to be staying across the street) was getting out of their bus and we were able to see a few of the players which was pretty cool. Tonight we have a dinner with the entire group which should be pretty sweet!
Hej Polska Gol!
So going back a little bit, yesterday the tour was lovely. We were able to see so much of the city and the history. Our tour guide was adorable and incredibly helpful. He actually catered the tour to what we wanted to see. "Stalin's gift" was one of our first stops. Its the tallest building in Poland and was built during the communist reign. Our tour guide told us where the best place to see the monument was: at the top, because you can't actually see the monument. Apparently the Polish don't like the monument, even though it was beautiful and the view was amazing. We also toured the Jewish Getto, which was really moving. Only two walls remain from after the uprising. Shortly after, half of our group wanted to leave early to start getting ready for the Poland-Czech football match that night. Caroline, Eric and I decided to keep touring - which was the best idea. We then ate the greatest ice cream I have ever had, saw the supreme court which is held up by look-a-likes of the statues at the Acropolis, was given a kiss from winnie the pooh and saw several people get married. It was one hell of an afternoon. I basically fell in love with Warsaw yesterday.
Then the insanity began. We got all dressed up in our white and red to go and watch the football match. Our entire group went together. Applying face paint as we walked to the "fan zone" (we preferred "fun zone") we practiced our polish cheers. 100 thousand tourists and polish citizens crammed into the "fan zone" to all watch the match. Now, imagine this scene. Half of those people, drunk, trying to buy more beer, with no line. Mosh pit. In the center of this giant mosh pit, several of the other girls and myself pushed our way to the front somehow. Completely illogical and terrifying, and my shoe broke while i was in there. I did however acquire a scarf somehow. After taping my sandal back together (Annie, the Michael Kors? RIP.), we enjoyed watching Poland lose in quite the upset. Just as the final seconds ticked away, mother nature unleashed her fury and it began to rain. We made it to a bar where we could watch the chaos outside safely in our seats with mojitos in hand. After the riot police passed, we decided to make friends with the different nationalities in the bar. The greeks were very nice and happy, considering they won. The russians were surprisingly cheerful considering they lost. Additionally, one of the russian men turned out to be the national champion for wrestling in russia, he's sort of a big deal. And he gave me his flag. Our time came to leave said bar to adventure forward in search of a Klub for Caroline who just wanted to dance. Two frenchmen accosted us as we were leaving but we made it out of there unscathed.
We walked for quite a while in search of some place new to go, and we found ourselves outside of the Warsaw University where we attend classes. Normally the square is very calm and serene. This was not a normal night. People were everywhere with bottles of Wodka and their Polish flags. Caroline had been very jealous of my scarf all night so I vowed I would find her one. There happened to be a scarf just within reach: wrapped around Copernicus's neck, at the top of a 10 foot high statue. Naturally climbing up there seemed like a really good idea - so we did. The Poles on top loved that we were american's and decided that we need to take shots with them on top of the statue. This also seemed like a good idea at the time. When in Poland!! We finally made it to another bar, which had the biggest beers I've ever seen and a crew of rowdy irishmen who decided we were going to spend the rest of the evening learning irish drinking songs. "Trapattoni's having a party, bring your vodka and bacardi!" We sang that one quite a few times. They also sang "Sweet Caroline" to Caroline, who just about swooned. The irishmen were going to another bar and invited us along so we followed them. On the way, we saw two people get married and ran into some spaniards who let us play with their soccer ball for a while.
The final bar was so unbelievably hot. We tried to learn more irish drinking songs, one involved taking off one of your shoes. Someone gave me a rose, and Seamus gave me his sunglasses as a momento of the evening. As the sun began to rise in Polska, we finally got a taxi home.
Net gain: two Polska scarves, a rose, a pair of sunglasses, Russian flag, a tiny Polska flag and some fantastic memories.
Then the insanity began. We got all dressed up in our white and red to go and watch the football match. Our entire group went together. Applying face paint as we walked to the "fan zone" (we preferred "fun zone") we practiced our polish cheers. 100 thousand tourists and polish citizens crammed into the "fan zone" to all watch the match. Now, imagine this scene. Half of those people, drunk, trying to buy more beer, with no line. Mosh pit. In the center of this giant mosh pit, several of the other girls and myself pushed our way to the front somehow. Completely illogical and terrifying, and my shoe broke while i was in there. I did however acquire a scarf somehow. After taping my sandal back together (Annie, the Michael Kors? RIP.), we enjoyed watching Poland lose in quite the upset. Just as the final seconds ticked away, mother nature unleashed her fury and it began to rain. We made it to a bar where we could watch the chaos outside safely in our seats with mojitos in hand. After the riot police passed, we decided to make friends with the different nationalities in the bar. The greeks were very nice and happy, considering they won. The russians were surprisingly cheerful considering they lost. Additionally, one of the russian men turned out to be the national champion for wrestling in russia, he's sort of a big deal. And he gave me his flag. Our time came to leave said bar to adventure forward in search of a Klub for Caroline who just wanted to dance. Two frenchmen accosted us as we were leaving but we made it out of there unscathed.
We walked for quite a while in search of some place new to go, and we found ourselves outside of the Warsaw University where we attend classes. Normally the square is very calm and serene. This was not a normal night. People were everywhere with bottles of Wodka and their Polish flags. Caroline had been very jealous of my scarf all night so I vowed I would find her one. There happened to be a scarf just within reach: wrapped around Copernicus's neck, at the top of a 10 foot high statue. Naturally climbing up there seemed like a really good idea - so we did. The Poles on top loved that we were american's and decided that we need to take shots with them on top of the statue. This also seemed like a good idea at the time. When in Poland!! We finally made it to another bar, which had the biggest beers I've ever seen and a crew of rowdy irishmen who decided we were going to spend the rest of the evening learning irish drinking songs. "Trapattoni's having a party, bring your vodka and bacardi!" We sang that one quite a few times. They also sang "Sweet Caroline" to Caroline, who just about swooned. The irishmen were going to another bar and invited us along so we followed them. On the way, we saw two people get married and ran into some spaniards who let us play with their soccer ball for a while.
The final bar was so unbelievably hot. We tried to learn more irish drinking songs, one involved taking off one of your shoes. Someone gave me a rose, and Seamus gave me his sunglasses as a momento of the evening. As the sun began to rise in Polska, we finally got a taxi home.
Net gain: two Polska scarves, a rose, a pair of sunglasses, Russian flag, a tiny Polska flag and some fantastic memories.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Polska bialo czerwony!!!!!
POLSKA!! Eurocup is well on its way here in Poland. Today is my third day here in Warsaw and a lovely tour guide showed us the city. After a strange wegetariański (vegetarian) breakfast we armed ourselves with cameras and fanny-packs and took the city by storm looking incredibly touristy. There were only a couple of dirty looks by the natives and the ocasional muttering of "ugh americans". We started in the gorgeous park that used to be a retreat for the king of Poland. 300 acres and stunning. The most beautiful was a greenhouse turned restaurant. Absolutely gorgeous. We walked through that park we moved on to Łazienki Park which is more or less dedicated to Chopin. And now we are hungry and must go cheer on Poland! More later! Do widzenia!
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